Proceedings Article | 5 May 2009
Proc. SPIE. 7333, Unattended Ground, Sea, and Air Sensor Technologies and Applications XI
KEYWORDS: Roads, Sensors, Magnetism, Surveillance, Sensor networks, Magnetic sensors, Acoustics, Improvised explosive devices, Intelligent sensors, Unattended ground sensors
Intelligence on abnormal and suspicious behaviour along roads in operational domains is extremely valuable for countering
the IED (Improvised Explosive Device) threat. Local sensor networks at strategic spots can gather data for continuous
monitoring of daily vehicle activity. Unattended intelligent ground sensor networks use simple sensing nodes, e.g.
seismic, magnetic, radar, or acoustic, or combinations of these in one housing. The nodes deliver rudimentary data at any
time to be processed with software that filters out the required information. At TNO (Netherlands Organisation for Applied
Scientific Research) research has started on how to equip a sensor network with data analysis software to determine
whether behaviour is suspicious or not. Furthermore, the nodes should be expendable, if necessary, and be small in size
such that they are hard to detect by adversaries. The network should be self-configuring and self-sustaining and should
be reliable, efficient, and effective during operational tasks - especially route surveillance - as well as robust in time and
space. If data from these networks are combined with data from other remote sensing devices (e.g. UAVs (Unmanned
Aerial Vehicles)/aerostats), an even more accurate assessment of the tactical situation is possible. This paper shall focus
on the concepts of operation towards a working intelligent route surveillance (IRS) research demonstrator network for
monitoring suspicious behaviour in IED sensitive domains.